He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3, ESV)
How bad this looks depends on the skill level of the friends with whom you share the game, but we have all spent golf rounds with a buddy whose struggles are immense that day. He can’t get the driver airborne; she chunks every chip.
When one of our regular partners falls victim to the shanks or the yips or whatever other malady that leads to expressions of “I quit,” we feel the pain of that frustration. Why? Because we have been there, too. While we may never regress to our earliest days on the golf course, we can hit enough ugly shots to start counting the hundred better ways to spend our money and our time.
Suffering is a consequence of Adam’s sin and, as they say, a fact of life. But God can make even suffering count for good.
As hard as it is to watch a golfing friend endure the torturous hours of an awful round, it cannot compare to a thoughtful reading of Isaiah 53. This is the prophetic chapter that foreshadows the suffering of the Messiah, of Jesus. Here we are told that he would:
– be hated and scorned
– take up our weaknesses and sorrows
– be pierced and crushed because of our sin
– remain silent against the accusations and afflictions brought against him
– bear the crushing judgment of God through grave suffering
– pour out his life unto death
Isaiah 53 is the unhappy description of what we somehow call Good Friday. It is the scorecard for the worst day ever to happen to a man. And it happened to the very best man ever to live.
Isaiah 53 is the unhappy description of what we somehow call Good Friday. It is the scorecard for the worst day ever to happen to a man.Oh, it can be hard to read Isaiah 53, but it can be so meaningful, too. From it we know without a doubt that Jesus understands. “We do not,” the writer of Hebrews said, “have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses.” Christ knows our lives, intimately.
There is more. Read by itself Romans 8:28, where we find the promise that God is working all things (that is, even the worst things) for the good of those who love him, can seem so distant and unreal—a dangling hope that doesn’t seem to overcome the forces of evil set against us. But when we read this promise in the context of the outcome of Jesus’ own suffering and death—“he will see the light of life…my righteous servant will justify many” (Isaiah 53:11)—we know that even the most unjust, painful episode in history brought our salvation. In this we have confidence that our suffering is not in vain, that our “light momentary affliction” really is “preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17).
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Jeff Hopper
July 29, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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